1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a drainage structure for use in sunroof apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
Sunroof apparatus of the tilt type or the tilt-slide type in general include a pair of longitudinally extending right and left guide rails secured to a vehicle roof, and a pair of drive sliders respectively supported and guided by the pair of guide rails for operating an open/close panel so as to open or close the opening defined in the vehicle roof. Water coming from the opening of the vehicle roof is received by a drain groove portion provided in each guide rail, flows through a drain drip located at an end portion of the guide rail and is then discharged to the outside through a drain tube.
In sunroof apparatus of the type adapted to tilt down the panel and then move it rearward, a drip rail is provided for receiving water dropped from a rear portion of the panel and for guiding the received water to a pair of right and left guide rails. The guide rails of sunroof apparatus of this type are elongated longitudinally of the vehicle and have front end portions interconnected through a connecting member defining a drain groove portion and free rear end portions to which a pair of drips are respectively attached.
With such drainage structures, when the vehicle is tilted to the right and left, it is difficult to drain water from one drip that has become higher than the other due to the tilting of the vehicle and, hence, water accumulated in the upper drip and the corresponding guide rail is possible to leak into the inside of the vehicle.
To overcome this drawback, it is conceivable to interconnect the rear ends of the right and left guide rails by means of a member having a drain groove portion. This, however, involves substantial increases in the cost and weight of the apparatus and hence is difficult to employ.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. SHO 63-222923 discloses a drainage structure wherein right and left drain drips are made to communicate with each other by means of a communication tube such as a hose so as to allow water to flow from an upper one of the drips to a lower one through the communication tube and to be discharged from the lower drip when the vehicle is tilted to the right and left.
In this prior art structure, however, since a communication path portion and a drain path portion rearwardly protrude from each drip and are connected to the communication tube and drain tube, respectively, water flowing down to the lower drip from the upper drip through the communication tube enters the lower drip from the rear side, flows toward the corresponding guide rail against the normal drainage stream, and then flows reversely so as to be discharged through the rearwardly oriented drain path portion. Thus, it is possible that the water overflows at the lower drip and the corresponding guide rail, resulting in a difficulty in providing a smooth flow of water.